First Time Smallmouth
juin 17, 2023
Kris had never caught a smallmouth before, so I told him that we would focus on them today. Being from Texas, largemouth were the bass he was used to, so catching a few smallies would be a real treat. Seeing as how bass had opened just yesterday, he was definitely in luck!
The lake was a mirror and there was a thick haze where we started. Fortunately, the fish didn’t care as Kris boated several brownies from the area, we were fishing. I’m not sure what he was more impressed with, the clarity of the water or their fight!
With each move we made, there were more fish landed and on one of the spots, he somehow managed to hook a sturgeon with a crankbait! We saw the lure in the mouth area but I don’t know if it actually ate. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to land it after a lengthy 20-minute battle, so I guess we’ll never know! Eventually it went to deep water and just pulled off. I think Kris was happy that it was over too!
The haze stayed with us all day and I actually think it was due to all the forest fires. It wasn’t a usual humidity haze that I was used to seeing. It made visibility everywhere, very difficult. Even seeing into the water was harder than usual. One of the areas we were fishing had bass shallow and trying to sight them to cast to wasn’t easy. Thankfully Kris had a great pair of sunglasses on and managed to land plenty more fish from here.
The time flew by today with only one person in the boat. He benefitted from this as well, by catching all the fish! He will go home with a great respect for the smallmouth and I’m sure it won’t be his last time fishing for them. Tough but very rewarding day!!